For hope on climate change, follow the money

United Nations boss Antonio Guterres speaks to Science writer Seth Borenstein, of The Associated Press, about the 'battle' to save the planet

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FOR nearly a decade, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been using science to warn about ever more dangerous climate change in increasingly urgent tones. Now he's enlisting something seemingly more important to the world's powerful: money.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Guterres hailed the power of market forces in what he repeatedly called "a battle" to save the planet.

He pointed to two new UN reports showing the plummeting cost of solar and wind power and the growing generation and capacity of those green energy sources. He warned those who cling to fossil fuels that they could go broke doing it.

"Science and the economy show the way," Guterres said in a 20-minute interview in his 38th-floor conference room overlooking the New York skyline. "What we need is the political will to take the decisions that are necessary in regulatory frameworks, in financial aspects, in other policy dimensions. Governments need to take decisions not to be an obstacle to the natural trend to accelerate the renewables transition."

That means by the end of the autumn, governments need to come up with new plans to fight climate change that are compatible with the global goal of limiting warming and ones that apply to their entire economy and include all greenhouse gases, Guterres said.